The First of '08

I hope you all had a happy and hazy new year. Shaking off a stubborn hangover earlier, I realized I'm about due for another post. But before we get into our best of 2007, I'd like to share a couple underground joints that have been running through my head during the tail end of this past year. Here at digablepeoples, we root for the underdog in the rap game— the talented emcee(s)/producer(s) that gets no love from their label's marketing & promotion as well as radio and TV. Hopefully, we can help spread the word, and put some $ in these guys' pockets @ shows (b/c they apparently see pennies from CD sales).



The first of these is by the supergroup E.M.C. (watch the video to find out what it stands for), which consists of Masta Ace, Wordsworth, Punchline, and Stricklin. They're all of the "punchline emcee" variety (no pun intended), displaying some clever flows and wordplay. And one thing you can always count on from Masta Ace is dope beats. On this track, "What It Stand For?", Justus League affiliate Nicolay is behind the boards.



The second video is "The Sound of Philadelphia" by Reef the Lost Cauze. The song and the video have a really raw, grassroots feel. He gives an all encompassing look at Illadelphia in a way that the Roots never did— he gets political, talks socio-economics, the whole nine ("We respect guns./ We respect funds./ Let's face it my future don't look like the Jetsons.") —all strung together with ill flows.



The last part of this post is half history lesson, half raw hip hop. Rob Viktum made this free, mostly instrumental album, "Progress," to spread awareness of the estimated 1.5 million Cambodians who died as a result of being tortured, starved, and overworked in agricultural cooperatives under the rule of the Khmer Rouge. This is particularly disturbing because Cambodia had a population of about 7.5 million people in 1975 when the Khmer Rouge took power, then, supported by the United States Government. Thus, "Progress" was created using exclusively Cambodian records brought over to America by the father of Viktum's Cambodian girlfriend. In addition to being historically poignant, the album displays creatively chopped boom-bap beats; really interesting stuff featuring Von Pea, Strange Fruit Project, and cuts by Rhymesayers affiliate Mr. Dibbs. Do your homework!